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Monday, 5 November 2012

Vehicles queue for 8 hours for fuel in New York

About one week after Superstorm Sandy, survivors are
becoming ever more desperate for fuel, bickering over their place in the queue
at gas stations and even brandishing firearms to get what they need. Fuel
shortages have become even direr, prompting some opportunist convenience store
owners to charge as much as $6 a gallon.

Along the New Jersey turnpike, cars lined up for miles in
the hope of getting fuel. By 7.30am the cars have lined up around two blocks.
By 10.30am there were more than 100, engines stilled, drivers out, waiting. On
the forecourt, people huddled holding their gas cans, water bottles, as many
containers they could carry or load onto a trolley.

People tweeted asking for information on open gas stations;
others tweeted when they found them or moment by moment as they closed. A
Facebook page was set up to track what was open, what was closed, when gas was
perhaps being delivered, how long the queue to get it.